A group of individuals involved in the illegal trade of stealing and selling human corpses and body parts has been convicted and sentenced to federal prison.
Angelo Pereyra, a 39-year-old resident of Kansas, received an 18-month sentence after he pled guilty to the interstate transport of stolen human remains and body parts.
Pereyra worked as a pathology assistant in a Kansas hospital. According to court documents, he stole human hearts, brains, spleens, testicles, intestines, and livers, as well as amputated feet and toes.
Some of the specimens were from living patients. “Most egregiously, Pereyra stole the corpses of miscarried and stillborn fetuses before they could be properly buried,” a Middle District of Pennsylvania press release read.
Pereyra then sold the stolen body parts to Andrew Ensanian of Montgomery, Pennsylvania, and had them delivered to Pennsylvania via the United States Postal Service. Ensanian has pled guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
Matthew Lampi, a 50-year-old resident of Minnesota, has been given a 15-month prison sentence for the illegal transportation of stolen human remains across state lines.
Lampi admitted that he bought the remains, including the corpse of a stillborn baby boy, from Jeremy Pauley, a Middle District of Pennsylvania resident.
According to court filings, Pauley purchased the bones from Candace Chapman Scott, an Arkansas woman who works at a Little Rock mortuary and cremation. Scott allegedly stole body parts from her job, including the corpses of two stillborn babies intended for incineration. She reportedly gave the mother of one of the babies ashes from another project.
Scott then sold the remainder to Pauley, who later sold them to Lampi and others. According to prosecutors, Lampi and Pauley exchanged more than $100,000 in internet transfers over the course of many transactions.
Pauley and Chapman Scott are awaiting punishment after pleading guilty to federal offenses in Pennsylvania and Arkansas, respectively.
The allegations stem from a multiyear investigation into the nationwide trafficking of stolen human remains.
The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).